In the Hour Glass Format, the Main Question and Take Home Message act as bookends for the Data Section. This section represents the bulk of presentation time and should include all findings, data points and slides.

Because presentation time is of the essence, the speaker must take great care in selecting images. They must be clear, accurate and most representative of the work under discussion. Unfortunately, most speakers are not particularly discriminating at this stage of preparation. Their impulse is to include every piece of data, perhaps on the assumption that a density of information indicates thorough science.

Alas, the opposite is true. Data not tied directly to the Main Question are perplexing for the audience and run the risk of both clouding their understanding and overloading the talk. In other words, too much data make the speaker and the presentation look sloppy and unorganized. The same selectivity required for the Take Home Message and Main Question applies to choosing images.

The Money Slide

We recognized the need for this preparation step after Dr. Robert Massey at the National Institutes of Health relayed a horror story.